


won't you take my hand

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Series: Week Four: Future [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 11:22:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20435180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: "Hey, kitty." Ladybug leans over him, grinning, ignoring the furious roar of the akuma in the distance as she offers him her hand.  "Need a hand up?"Still dazed from the throw that had landed him here, a considerable distance from the original battle, Adrien accepts her hand without thinking about it and suppresses the tiny thrill he gets from how effortlessly she hauls him to his feet."Wait," he says, when he has his thoughts back in order.  "If you're here, who's fighting the akuma?"Her grin grows, the edges of it twitching slightly.  "Queen Bee. She did get the poor man akumatised, it only seemed fair."Adrien stifles a laugh.





	won't you take my hand

**Author's Note:**

> for the adrienaugreste prompt 'helping hands' 
> 
> thanks shinobicyrus!

"Hey, kitty." Ladybug leans over him, grinning, ignoring the furious roar of the akuma in the distance as she offers him her hand. "Need a hand up?"

Still dazed from the throw that had landed him here, a considerable distance from the original battle, Adrien accepts her hand without thinking about it and suppresses the tiny thrill he gets from how effortlessly she hauls him to his feet.

"Wait," he says, when he has his thoughts back in order. "If you're here, who's fighting the akuma?"

Her grin grows, the edges of it twitching slightly. "Queen Bee. She _ did _ get the poor man akumatised, it only seemed fair."

Adrien stifles a laugh. 

Queen Bee holds her own surprisingly well, enough that it's the work of moments to defeat the villain once they've rejoined the battle. He knows Ladybug had expected to need Carapace or Rena Rouge or both before the end of the fight but ultimately the three of them are enough. 

And Chat Noir takes a step back when the man is de-akumatised, because for the first time Chloe is the one to step up to the victim and reassure them. 

"That's new," he remarks as Ladybug takes a step back of her own to stand beside him. "I don't think I've ever seen her take initiative like that."

"It might be a little more impressive if she hadn't aggravated him into getting akumatised in the first place," Ladybug reminds him dryly.

Adrien gestures wordlessly as Chloe offers the man a hand up off the ground, audibly apologising. "Come on, LB, you know she never would have done this even a month ago. Maybe even a _ week _ ago."

"True," Ladybug admits, leaning against his side and watching indulgently. "I guess being a hero is good for her after all."

Adrien shoots her a teasing glance. "Rethinking letting her keep the Miraculous after all?"

Ladybug snorts. "Wouldn't go _ that _ far, kitty." Her own Miraculous beeps. "Pound it?"

She bounds away before him, taking Chloe with her as she goes, and Adrien takes a moment to reassure the victim himself before taking to the rooftops again. 

He detransforms in a shadowed part of a broken fire escape. The building it’s attached to has been scheduled for demolition for longer than Adrien’s known about it, and he’s always a little wary of the structural integrity of the warped fire escape, but it’s served him well for this long without problems. 

Plagg takes one look at him, sighs, and tosses his Camembert in the air once before devouring it. Mouth still full, he says, "You're gonna owe me extra cheese for this one, kid."

"I know, Plagg," Adrien says guiltily, leaning against the wall. It's filthy and dirt smears off onto his overshirt immediately, but that won't matter once he transforms again. "You can have lots of extra cheese, okay? Just-" He struggles to finish that sentence in a way that doesn't sound overly pathetic. 

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about it, kid." Plagg circles Adrien’s head once and perches on his shoulder, purring loudly. 

"Thanks, Plagg." Adrien leans his head against his kwami and purrs back for the briefest moment. "Claws out!"

He goes to Marinette's first. He doesn't have much intention of going home at all tonight, not if he can help it, but his other options all involve detransforming and he'd like to stay Chat Noir a while longer first. 

And Marinette doesn't turn him away unless she has some other pressing obligation. 

She's already on her balcony when he thumps down onto her railing, and she turns towards him with a smile and her hand already outstretched to help him down. "Hey, Chat Noir. Early night?"

"Patrol's not until a lot later," he admits as he accepts her hand down. "But I couldn't stand to stay in on such a beautiful night."

Marinette glances up at the encroaching cloud cover, raising an eyebrow. "Really. Tell me, do you ever check the weather ahead of time?"

His grin turns sheepish. "Does looking out the window count?"

She laughs and tugs him further towards the open skylight. "_No_, it doesn't. Dinner's in twenty minutes, do you want to stay until the storm's over?"

Of course he can't say no to that.

Her parents aren't surprised to see him. They haven't been surprised to see him since...well, probably the second time Marinette brought him down, and they only ever greet him warmly and set an extra place at the table. It had taken Adrien a long time and several painful conversations with Marinette to stop feeling like he was taking advantage of their generosity, but by now he stops by as often as he can manage and more often than he probably should.

The storm takes a little longer than dinner does to end, so he stays at Marinette's long enough to play a few rounds of Mecha Strike with her and her parents. Once the sky's cleared, though, he ends up taking off again even though he really wouldn't mind staying longer. 

Marinette has let him stay before, but he doesn't want to overstay his welcome, and he tries not to overtax Plagg by sleeping as Chat Noir more than a few times a week. 

He stays transformed just long enough to make his way to the Seine, where the water's still showing signs of a current disturbed by the recent storm. The Liberty, however, is right where he'd hoped it would be.

Adrien drops his transformation, waiting for Plagg to duck inside his shirt collar before he lets out the kind of piercing whistle Alix and Kim had insisted on teaching him.

It doesn't take long for Juleka and Luka to appear on deck, and Rose darts past them both to lower the boarding plank before the siblings each offer Adrien a hand up onto the boat. 

"Hey, no Kim's tonight?" Luka teases him, steadying Adrien as he steps onto the deck. 

Adrien smiles wanly. "Maybe tomorrow. That is, if you don't mind putting me up for a little bit tonight."

"More the merrier!" Anarka calls from up in the wheelhouse, startling laughs from Rose and Adrien both. 

They've picked up a folding screen since the last time Adrien's been over, giving a little more privacy between Luka and Juleka's rooms, but the screen is folded out of the way and they've pulled the curtain back- judging from the pillows scattered across the floor and the guitars leaned against Luka's bed, Adrien's joined them in the middle of a brainstorming session. 

"We were just about to Skype Ivan," Rose tells him cheerfully. "He's with Mylene and she gets seasick, so he couldn’t make it over here in person, this time."

The call connects and Ivan raises both eyebrows at seeing Adrien on the Liberty. "Hey, didn't think you'd make it!"

Adrien grins at him, more confidently now, his good mood buoyed by his friend's enthusiasm. "Wasn't sure I would." 

He stays long enough that Luka offers him his bed for the night, but Adrien turns him down, claiming he has to get home before he's found out. Rose insists on waving him off the Liberty, so Adrien makes sure to get some distance away before Plagg can dart out again. 

Plagg blinks at him, scowling, but there's no heat in the expression. There hasn't been in a long time. "Seriously, kid, _ so much cheese_."

"You know I'll get you all the cheese you want, Plagg," Adrien says sheepishly, and Plagg transforms him again without more than an eye roll.

Adrien takes off again, winding his way along a route much lower to the ground than he usually prefers. Sometimes, though, Ladybug catches up to him much sooner than he expects, and while it probably wouldn't be too hard to come up with a reason to be so near the Liberty he hasn't lied to his partner yet and he doesn't intend to start now.

She probably wouldn't risk their identities by asking. He still doesn't want to be close enough to raise the question.

Because he's not running along the rooftops this time, he startles when Ladybug swings down from an ornamental archway just as he passes it. She doesn't swing all the way to the ground, bracing herself against the wall and offering him a hand up instead. 

"Hey, kitty," she greets him, sounding just as relaxed as he feels after bouncing between friends for the evening, and when he takes her hand she pulls him up after her with the same effortless strength he'd admired earlier. "Ready for patrol?"

He grins back at her, tail and ears both flicking with eager anticipation. "For you? Always, my Lady."

Patrol runs late, later than they usually let it; Chat Noir is restless in a way that happens every so often ever since he'd met Plagg, and Ladybug recognises the signs and teases him for it but doesn't object to staying out longer. 

"Friend of mine calls it the zoomies, when _ his _ cat gets real hyper late at night," Ladybug calls, racing him along a rooftop. Chat Noir tries to vault ahead of her with his baton to catch a better head start, but her yo-yo zips past him as he does and she slingshots herself three roofs ahead easily. 

"_His _ cat, huh?" Chat Noir asks her breathlessly when they finally come to a halt, fetching up in the shadows where two roofs meet.

Her smile turns soft and she reaches out to ruffle his hair just behind his ears, laughing when he presses into her touch with a purr. "Now you're just fishing for compliments."

He grins up at her, eyes nearly slitted with happiness. "Maybe a little, my Lady."

When Adrien does thump back in through his open window, it's only to detransform and spring into a diving roll for the bed. Plagg mutters when Adrien's alarm goes off only moments later, but Plagg can and will nap in Adrien's bag during class. Adrien himself probably won't be able to get any sleep until patrol tonight, and even then he _ should _ stay home and sleep- but he already knows he isn't going to. 

It's not the first time he's come to class without any sleep, anyway. He's just tired enough this time that he almost trips sliding into his desk, but Nino's hand on his arm steadies him and Adrien shoots his friend a grateful look. 

"Dude, you're always such a total zombie in the morning," Nino teases him, leaning back once they're both seated. "Have you ever considered, I don't know, actually convincing your dad to schedule in like _ one _ restful night?"

Adrien can't help the content smile he feels spread across his face as he says, "Out of my whole schedule, Nino, the nights are the last thing I'd want to change."

**Author's Note:**

> title is from erutan's cover of you're not alone from final fantasy ix!


End file.
